H.G. Wells' "scientific romance," published first in serial form and then as a book in 1898, attained perhaps its greatest fame in another form, the infamous realistic 1939 radio broadcast "Invasion from Mars" by Orson Welles. It was also made into an early 1950s science fiction adventure movie. Stover (emeritus, Illinois Institute of Technology) describes Wells' story as "a prophecy of startling originality foreseeing the coming of totalitarianism...

"America's Fabulous Freelance Insurance Investigator faces cases of killing for vengeance and keeping silent for honor - "dead" men who won't stay down for long (or alive for much longer) - beneficiaries that can't be found and beautiful mixed up risk-takers who may be out on their last ledge. He pads his expense account in pursuit of stolen jewels, arsonists, crooked cops, and romance, all while he tries to solve matters of murder. With a versatile...